Dubai Airport is closing one runway from 16th April to 30th May next year for a major refurbishment.

As a result, Emirates will be cutting 28% of its capacity that operates through Dubai from 16th April to 30th May next year.

This means that many of the Emirates flights that operate from Thailand through Dubai, both to its 42 European destinations (there are now 8 in the UK) and other worldwide areas, will be affected (with quite a number being cancelled) and, for penny pinchers like myself, the possibility of special offers on seats will be limited

Anyone who already has flights booked for that period that transit through Dubai should verify on a regular basis whether their flights are affected as the cancellations and schedule changes are still work-in-progress.

Additionally, as the remaining runway will be operating at, or very close, to 100% capacity, delays will become inevitable should even any comparatively minor runway incidents occur.

Unfortunately that isn't an option apart for an emergency return for a plane. Emirates flights and others into DBX are mostly feeder and onward connections so theY can't use another airport as the passengers won't have time to transfer by road to catch the connection at DBX

DBX works as a Bank Hub airport with a connection time usually of less than 2 hours so using another airport only works if all flights are rescheduled.